Naruto: Style By Ninja 2: Re:Death
by Sonata-Time-Flare-Nocturne-Aoi
Summary: Chapter 8 is up! This is the direct sequel to our first smash hit story. Naruto's life finally seems to be back on track until he is suddenly murdered by an unknown assailant. The orange-haired ninja is given multiple chances to re-live his day and avoid his fate, but can he unmask the killer before his lives are used up? Can you, the reader, figure out who the culprit is? Rated T.
1. Day 1: A New Day

**Story**: Naruto: Style By Ninja 2: Re:Death  
**Author**: Master Jin Sonata  
**Written**: Crime/Mystery  
**Rating**: T (Violence, Language, Suggestive Themes)  
**Disclaimer**: I do not Naruto, but we do own his fate!  
**Author's Note:** We highly recommend you read the first 'Style By Ninja' story we wrote, as this story you are reading now continues directly after the previous one. Also, this story takes place during the Shippuden timeline.

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**Day 1: A New Day**

Naruto Uzumaki was in his bed, sleeping peacefully until his alarm wakes him at 6:00am. He sticks an arm out from underneath the covers and swats around until he was able to hit the alarm's snooze button. He lets out a big yawn before slowly slipping out of bed. He walks over to the window and opens the curtains, letting the strong beam of sunlight engulf him and fill his room.

A smile spreads across Naruto's face as he lets the glow of the sun engulf him.

"Finally, it feels good to wake up without incident," he says while gazing down at the streets below.

He could see Sasuke on patrol as usual, and Hinata was most likely still asleep at her own home.

The nightmare he had to endure the week before took quite the mental toll on him, a pretty devious circumstance all in the name of experimentation. But now that he knew the purpose of that hectic ordeal, Naruto could finally take control of his destiny.

Following a shower and a quick bite to eat, our titular hero leaves his home and heads out for a day of adventure. His usual agenda of ninja training, hanging out with his friends around the village, and downing a huge bowl of delicious ramen noodles from the local shop were routine for him.

Deciding to take a shortcut to the Hokage's office to see what sort of missions he could take on, Naruto opts to take the alleyway path behind his home. This was a route he didn't take often but figured it would be beneficial to reach the office before anyone else to snag the good jobs for the day.

Reaching the alley's halfway point, Naruto stops as he senses an odd presence near him.

He looks up and down the alley, in front and behind him.

Nothing.

"Hmm…that's odd…could have sworn I felt someone…" he says to himself…

**SHINK!**

…when Naruto is suddenly stabbed through his chest by a sharp object.

He stops and tries to gasp at the fact that he had been impaled, but he couldn't breath…he couldn't shout…he couldn't scream.

As he slowly lost consciousnesses, Naruto attempted to turn his head to see who had done him in, but it was too late, as everything had gone dark before his eyes, hitting the ground in a loud slump.

Naruto Uzumaki was dead.

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	2. Day 1: In Purgatory

**Day 1: In ****Purgatory**

"…"

"…"

"…Ugh…"

"…W-where…where am I?"

Naruto wakes suddenly in a limbo-like dimension. Around him are strangely angled objects: old decrepit statures of famous shinobi from history, several burned scrolls, and other scattered objects not worthy of note.

"What the? What's going on? What the hell happened me? Am I dead?" Naruto questions, standing to his feet and trying to familiarize himself with his surroundings.

_**"Yes, Naruto..."**_

"What?! Who's there!? Show yourself!" Naruto shouts out toward the direction of the voice.

_**"How does it feel to be dead, Naruto?"**_

"That's enough! Who are you? Are you making fun of me?" Naruto demands.

**"Not at all. I beg your pardon if I've offended you. You are strongly fated today. You see, you are destined to die."**

"What!? That's bullshit! What do you mean destined to die?!" Naruto snaps back.

_**"But if you have the will somehow to reverse that fate by yourself, I can lend you some measure of strength. How about it? Will you deal with me?"**_

Naruto crosses his arms in immediate dismissal of the shady offer.

"Thanks, but no thanks. Sounds too good to be true," Naruto responds, his tone stern and final.

_**"Why? Can't you trust me?"**_

"Why the hell should I trust a faceless person who toys with my from the shadows? Look, I get it. You're the evil one, the devil. 'In exchange for your immortal soul' and all that crap, am I right?" Naruto interrogates.

_**"Your soul? Oh please, in this day and age? Well if I do have an agenda, it's that you survive."**_

Naruto was silent for a moment, taken aback at the voice's dismissal of evil intent.

"Let me think it over a bit," Naruto finally says in a low voice.

_**"Of course, of course, go ahead. But don't keep me waiting. I don't much like to be left hanging. I mean... what reason is there to procrastinate? You can just die here and now, or you can end it. It's that simple. What have you got to lose? I'm sure you've been through worse humiliation in recent weeks, no?"**_

"Okay okay! I'm sorry I called you the devil. I can't afford to die, not until I achieve my dream of being Hokage. So, please help me out," Naruto says, giving in to the offer.

_**"Alright, but I want you to remember something: You have to understand that the destiny that awaits you is a potent one, which means that just because you manage to avoid death once doesn't mean you're free of the threat. Unless you tear out its very root, destiny cannot be cheated."**_

"Fair enough. So coming back to life isn't the hard part, huh?" Naruto responds.

_**"You're right, unless you are fine with being brought back by Reanimation Jutsu. But… that's also where your own strengths come in. Are you ready? I'm going to give you some of my time-shifting powers. I'm going to give you this magic necklace. Please use it well."**_

A gold-colored necklace with a strange black gem in its center suddenly materializes in front of Naruto's Face. The blonde-haired shinobi reaches out and grabs hold of it.

_**"But it's not as though you can use it any time or anywhere you want. This will respond to phenomena that have some relevance to you as its user. You can't solve the real problem by just using it when you're about to die. It's better to make use of it to remove the underlying cause of your death. Oh, and one more thing."**_

"Something else I should know?" Naruto asks.

_**"Yes, and it's very important. If the response begins in the time-space you've traveled out to, please come back immediately. Other people and objects can be left in another time and stay intact, but that isn't true for the user. If it starts to respond, you need to come back quickly or you won't be able to get back at all. Just be careful of that. It looks like time is something even more serious than I know. Good luck."**_

A large gate opens behind Naruto, which he turns around to face and walks through.

It was time for Naruto to re-attempt his day once again.

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**Please review and keep watch for new chapters as this fic is updated constantly!**


	3. Day 1: Revisited

**Day 1: Revisited**

6am arrived.

Naruto sticks an arm out from underneath the covers and swats around until he was able to hit the alarm's snooze button. He lets out a big yawn before slowly slipping out of bed. He walks over to the window and opens the curtains, letting the strong beam of sunlight engulf him and fill his room.

Then it hits him.

He reaches into his pajama pocket and pulls out a gold-colored necklace and raises it to eye-level.

"So… me dying and going to that purgatory world was real. Look's like I have a second chance to set things straight," he says to himself as he wears the necklace given to him.

Before he sets out on his morning routine, he needed some sort of preventive measure to protect him from getting killed again like before.

He opens his window and gazing down at the streets below, seeing Sasuke on patrol.

"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto shouts to him.

Sasuke stops and looks up at Naruto with an eyebrow raised.

"What is it?" he asks.

"I need you to escort me to the Hokage's office!" Naruto responds.

"…You can't be serious…" Sasuke responds with a monotone voice. "Why the hell would you need an escort?"

"I'm serious! I was recently murdered by an unknown assailant!" Naruto shot back, his tone more firm.

"…What?!" Sasuke responds, slightly dumbfounded as to what Naruto was even talking about.

Taking it upon himself to go down to street-level and pull Sasuke inside his home, Naruto explains to Sasuke in detail what had happened to him yesterday, from the start of his day until receiving the strange time-bending necklace from a strange figure within purgatory.

"I see…" Sasuke comments. "So, this isn't a repeat of what Kurenai was doing to you last week. Sounds like someone is out there with a malicious plot to murder you."

"Yeah that's exactly what I'm thinking. But who in the world would want me dead?!" Naruto ponders out loud.

"Probably someone who is envious of your latent powers or your determination to be as loud and annoying as possible," Sasuke quipped.

"Yeah, I agre—HEY! I'm not that bad!" Naruto shot back at Sasuke at his remark.

"So what exactly do you want me to do, escort you through the back alley like a little kid walking an old lady across a street?" Sasuke questions.

"Yes exactly! Gee, Sasuke, you're brighter than your brooding face gives off," Naruto teases.

"…I'm going to pretend you didn't say that…ass," Sasuke responds to the clap-back Naruto had given him.

After gathering his things, both Naruto and Sasuke depart to the would-be scene of the crime: the alleyway path behind his home.

Upon arrival, Naruto gulped and then took a deep breath. He could still remember the feeling of being stabbed to death, it was not a pleasant event he wanted to relive.

"Okay Sasuke, keep your eyes and ears open…I was unable to sense whoever came and stabbed me before," Naruto whispers to him, staying close to his side.

"You have nothing to worry about, I can sense anything around me," Sasuke mutters back, keeping a sharp sense of his surroundings.

Reaching the alley's halfway point, both Naruto and Sasuke stop as they sense an odd presence near them.

Both Naruto and Sasuke immediately took out a kunai and stood at the ready for an attack from any direction.

"You felt that, right?" Naruto whispers to Sasuke.

"Yeah…but just barely," Sasuke says. "Whoever this is, their ability to nearly suppress their chakra is impressive."

After several tense moments, the feeling of danger slowly faded.

Whoever was nearby was now gone.

Both young men lower their guard and took a deep breath.

"Seems like the threat is over," Sasuke says, crossing his arms. "How strange…someone was definitely in the vicinity, but it was hard to detect their exact location."

"See?! I told you I wasn't lying about all of this!" Naruto says to Sasuke.

"Well, you're safe for now. Need me to take you the rest of the way?" Sasuke asks.

"Thanks, Sasuke, I would like that. No telling if fate would screw me over yet again as soon as you leave," Naruto says with a slight chuckle.

With that said Naruto was able to go on about his day as originally planned.

It would appear he has cheated death…

…for today at least.

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**Please review and keep watch for new chapters as this fic is updated constantly!**


	4. Day 1: Dinner Death

**Day 1: Dinner Death**

"Mission complete, time to celebrate!"

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji were sitting at Ramen Ichiraku having a celebratory dinner over the completion of their recent mission.

As they ate, the three shinobi converse with one another.

"Man, this is hitting the spot!" Choji proclaims as he was nearly finished with his first bowl already.

"Heh, I must admit, it's refreshing that you and Naruto were able to execute my tactics during that confrontation with those rogue bandits. I didn't expect things to go smoothly with you two partnered with me, but you proved me wrong," Shikamaru says while slowly and methodically eating his ramen.

"You know you can always count on us! We should team up more often!" Naruto says with delight in-between slurps of his food.

"Man Naruto, you've been cheerier than usual as of late," Choji comments. "Is lady luck on your side or something?"

Naruto laughs.

"You could say that. I had a... sort of unfortunate accident earlier this morning. Thankfully I had help from both Sasuke and a stranger from an even stranger place," Naruto admits.

Both Shikamuaru and Choji look at one another in curiosity as to what he meant, but shrugs it off and continues to eat.

Unbeknownst to the three of them, a stray hand slips past their sights as a stranger sprinkles a strange powder into Naruto's bowl before disappearing from sight.

Naruto finishes his first bowl of ramen and then lets out a loud burp.

"Man, that was delicious! I could sure go for another… for…another…ugh…I don't…feel so good…" Naruto proclaims before suddenly hunching over in pain as he now struggles to breath.

"Naruto?! Is something wrong?" Shikamaru states, as he and Choji notice Naruto's strange behavior.

But it was too late, Naruto, now gasping for air, falls off of his stool onto the ground, taking his last breath as he suffocates.

Shikamaru and Choji leap off their stools and immediately tried to resuscitate our orange-haired hero, but it was too late.

Naruto Uzumaki was dead…again.

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**Please review and keep watch for new chapters as this fic is updated constantly!**


	5. Day 1: In Purgatory Again

**Day 1: In Purgatory Again**

"…"

"…"

_"…Ugh…what the…"_

_"…Oh no…am I back here again?"_

Naruto wakes suddenly in the limbo-like dimension once again.

"_**Oh, this is interesting. I did not expect you to be back so soon after overcoming your first death."**_

Naruto stands to his feet and growls in frustration.

"Hey, what gives, huh?! I was with my friends when I suddenly keeled over while eating. How the hell could this happen?!" Naruto demands at the voice of the realm's keeper.

"**_You tell me, Naruto. You cheated death the first time by upping your numbers, but that did not save you this time around. What does that tell you?"_**

"It must mean someone poisoned my ramen without me knowing! But how?! Shikamaru, Choji and I should have noticed someone nearby!" Naruto responds, thinking back to the moment before he died.

"**_You fail to realize that it didn't necessarily help you before. You should establish by now that your killer is very difficult to detect by normal means, regardless of the number of bodies around you. Am I right, Naruto?"_**

"Well…yeah it would seem so. But why was I targeted at dinnertime?!" Naruto demands.

"**_Perhaps your killer saw opportunity to murder you when your guard was down. Just speculation."_**

"Grr…whatever! Just send me back already, I'll figure out a way to outsmart my killer again!" Naruto swears, clenching his fists in anger.

"**_I will be more than happy to oblige. However, there is one thing you should be aware of when you return."_**

"Yeah? And what's that?" Naruto questions.

"**_Every time you die and are summoned here to my realm, your reality will reset upon return. However, your necklace's ability to transcend space and time will slowly erode at your timeline, creating both subtle and dramatic change to your restart-point. This could make your mission to circumvent death more challenging the more you repeat this process."_**

"Hmm…I see, so things may play out a bit different each time I return to the past. Wait…one thing I wanted to ask you," Naruto questions the voice.

"**_Yes, what is it?" _**

"How many resurrection chances do I have until time and space are totally screwed up beyond all recognition?" Naruto asks.

"**_Your chances are limited, though I cannot give you a specific number. So I would take heed in your actions from this point forward. Now, return to whence you came." _**

Another large gate opens behind Naruto, which he turns around to face and walks through a second time.

It was time for Naruto to re-attempt his day yet again.

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**Please review and keep watch for new chapters as this fic is updated constantly!**


	6. Day 1: Re-Revisited

**Day 1: Re-Revisited **

6am arrived yet again.

Naruto immediately jumps out of bed. He rushes over to the window and opens the curtains…

…only this time, however, things were much different.

"What the…its not sunny this time around? Was I sent back to the right time-frame?" Naruto wonders, confused as to why this replay of events wasn't starting out the same as before.

He reaches into his pajama pocket and pulls out a gold-colored necklace and raises it to eye-level.

"At least I still have this," Naruto says.

He then recalls what the mysterious voice in Purgatory said to him earlier.

_**"Every time you die and are summoned here to my realm, your reality will reset upon return. However, your necklace's ability to transcend space and time will slowly erode at your timeline, creating both subtle and dramatic change to your restart-point. This could make your mission to circumvent death more challenging the more you repeat this process."**_

It was then that Naruto knew he needed to check on something.

He opens his window and gazes down at the streets below.

Sasuke was no longer on patrol around the city…

…instead, Shikamaru was casually walking along the street in Sasuke's place.

_"Oh no…this isn't good…Sasuke not here to ensure I don't get killed in the alleyway later this morning. I wonder if Shikamaru will be willing to escort me instead…and not only that, I need to warn him and Choji about tonight's dinner incident at Ramen Ichiraku,"_ Naruto says to himself.

Still, he had to have someone with him to at least try and circumvent his first murder attempt, and hopefully his second later that night.

"Hey Shikamaru!" Naruto shouts down to him.

Shikamaru stops and looks up at Naruto with an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Hmm Naruto, what's up?" he asks.

"I need you to escort me to the Hokage's office!" Naruto responds.

"…An escort? But why…" Shikamaru responds with a monotone voice similar to Sasuke's. "Why do you need-?"

"I'll explain it to you in a bit, just wait for me to get ready, will ya!" Naruto shot back, interrupting Shikamaru's questioning of the request.

"…What a drag…" Shikamaru responds. He too was dumbfounded as to what Naruto was even talking about.

Taking it upon himself to go down to street-level and pull Shikamaru inside his home like he did with Sasuke, Naruto explains to Shikamaru in detail what had happened to him in the previous days, from the start of his day, to his previous two deaths, and of course the strange time-bending necklace from the strange figure within purgatory whose been helping him out this whole time.

"Are you…feeling okay?" Shikamaru comments.

Naruto realizes that Shikamaru has no clue about what happened last week with Kurenai's experiment, and that only Sasuke and Hinata were aware of situation.

How was he going to convince him that he's not going crazy?

Shikamaru glares at Naruto for a moment, then sighs.

"I can tell by the look in your eyes that you're being serious about this. Okay, I'll accompany you. If you say you're on someone's hit-list, then I'll assist you throughout your day," Shikamaru says to him with an agreeing nod.

"Excellent! Come on, let's get going then, I want to get to the bottom of things as soon as possible," Naruto says, grabbing Shikamaru's hand and pulling him toward the doors out of his house.

One thing did bother Naruto, though…

…where was Sasuke now in this new modified timeline?

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**Please review and keep watch for new chapters as this fic is updated constantly!**


	7. Day 1: Dinner Death Revisited

**Day 1: Dinner Death Revisited**

"Mission complete, time to celebrate!"

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji were sitting at Ramen Ichiraku having a celebratory dinner over the completion of their recent mission.

"So what do you think of the plan?" Naruto whispers to Shikamaru.

Naruto had walked Shikamaru through a repeat of his day. He was able to convince him that he needed protection from being attacked in an alley on his way to the Hokage's office. He then reminded him that someone had poised his meal at this very shop following their mission along with Choji.

Shikamaru nods.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure no one tampers with your meal tonight," he reassures Naruto.

As they ate, the three shinobi continue to converse with one another, only quieter this time.

"Man, that really sucks someone tried to off you twice already. Choji comments as he was nearly finished with his first bowl already. "What kind of sick person would want to murder you so badly?"

"Who knows. I have been the target of many throughout my life, so it's beyond me. But what scares me the most is that I'm neither detecting nor noticing the suspect around me," Naruto confides with them in between slurps of his soup.

"Yeah, it's a drag to be on someone's hit list, but you nor anyone else here deserve it," Shikamaru comments. "Oh yeah, you mentioned that in this new reality, Sasuke was nowhere to be found. Wonder where he could be?"

"From what I was told, every time I repeat my day, elements in my world change," Naruto reiterates. "But at least you two are still around during this moment."

"Trust me, no one is going to murder you tonight, and that's a fact!" Choji adds with a grin of determination.

The three young men continue their meal, until, unbeknownst to the three of them, a stray hand slips past their sights as a stranger sprinkles a strange powder into Naruto's bowl before attempting to flee the scene.

"…Gotcha," Shikamaru mutters under his breath.

Before Naruto could take another bite, Choji stops his hand from reaching his mouth, while Shikamaru sprung into action by using his Shadow Sewing Technique materialized shadows to attack and bind the culprit behind him.

With the suspect bound by several shadows protruding from the ground, all three men turn around to take a good look at who attempted to poison Naruto's meal.

Who they saw before them was something neither of them could believe.

It was Hinata.

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**Please review and keep watch for new chapters as this fic is updated constantly!**


	8. Day 1: Dinner Death Revisited: BP

**Day 1: Dinner Death Revisited: Breaking Point**

"Hinata?! What are you doing here?!" Naruto proclaims as he, Shikamaru, and Choji were confused as the supposed malevolent feeling they sensed were of their meek friend and ally.

Hinata, however, did not respond. She stood still, with her head down…

…it was as if she was…lifeless.

This sent chills down Naruto's spine.

"What…what's going on? Why are you here? And why are you giving me such an unpleasant feeling?" Naruto spoke with unease.

Hinata did not respond.

"Naruto, what will you do? Something definitely isn't right here," Choji says to his buddy, clenching his fist while he tried to understand this baffling situation.

"Do you think she is being possessed?" Shikamaru says to Naruto. "What kind of jutsu does this to a person?"

It then suddenly dawned on Naruto…

"Wait…that…isn't really Hinata…it's a damn illusion!" Naruto proclaims, calling out to Hinata.

The seemingly unresponsive Hinata suddenly flew her head upwards, now piercing a glare at the three shinobi.

She then gave them a very menacing grin of contempt.

_**"So you were able to figure it out,"**_ the fake Hinata spoke, her voice now sounding like that of a demonic male's.

What the shit is going on?!" Choji responds, eyes wide open in shock at her tonal shift.

The fake Hinata chuckles.

_**"Indeed you saw through my illusion. Your perception is quite commendable, Naruto,"**_ the fake Hinata spoke. _**"First you managed to circumvent your demise by finding a replacement for Sasuke after your resurrection. And now in his absence, you saw past the fake that is your dear friend Hinata. Are you noticing a pattern here?"**_

Naruro's eyes shot wide open as a revelation came to him.

Both of Naruto's most dangerous moments involved the people who experienced the previous chain of events prior to this situation…

…with Sasuke and Hinata.

Still, it didn't answer the fact that Sasuke was missing without a trace and that this freaky Hinata was the one who killed him a second time. Sure, the voice in Purgatory who allowed Naruto to rewind time and fix his mistakes spoke of his world's natural sequence of events warping upon each repeat.

But he now sees this only complicates things more, and now the real Hinata is now missing.

"Tell me, you fake bastard! Where is the real Hinata?! And why are you trying to kill me?" Naruto demands.

The fake Hinata's gaze turned serious as he/she fixes its glaze to Naruto's.

**_"You were given a gift to change destiny…twice. No person should be allowed to wield such powers except for me. I will kill you and take your place no matter what it takes…_**

**_…and to do that, I will take everyone you deeply care for out of the picture…_**

**_…one by one…_**

**_…for every time you abuse your powers,"_** the fake Hinata reveals.

As the fake spoke, Shikamaru was starting to lose his grip on the enemy, as his Shadow Sewing Technique was beginning to fail due to too much chakra use to maintain it.

"Naruto...quick...dispatch this phony...now!" Shikamaru says in a strained voice to the orange-haired shinobi.

"Right!" Naruto says with a reassuring nod as he draws his weapon. "I won't let you mess with my reality!"

As Naruto prepared to go on the offensive, the fake Hinata breaks free from Shikamaru's jutsu and immediately teleports behind him.

"No, look out!" Choji shouts to Shikamaru.

But it was too late.

The imposter strikes Shikamaru with its hand, piercing straight through his chest.

Shikamaru gasps in shock as he freezes in place from the sudden attack that he could not evade for some reason.

"NOOOOO, YOU BASTARD!" Naruto shouts at the top of his lungs as he charges straight to avenge his mortally-wounded ally.

Then suddenly…everything started to warp and distort all about him, as if reality was beginning to unravel within itself. His whole surroundings began to fade from existence: the ramen place, Choji, Shikamaru, the imposter…they all started to fade to blade.

To make things worse, Naruto started to feel tired…as if something was pulling him into the deconstruction of reality.

"Ugh…now…what is going…?" Naruto says tiredly.

Then suddenly, everything went black.

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**Please review and keep watch for new chapters as this fic is updated constantly!**


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